Patrick J. Byrne, MD, MBA, a Cleveland-based facial plastic surgeon, is the new president of The American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS) for 2024-2025. Here, he shares his priorities for the AAFPRS, focusing on education, clinical excellence, and tackling industry challenges such as workforce shortages and technological advancements.
Plastic Surgery Practice: What are your primary goals as the new president of the AAFPRS, and how do you plan to advance the academy’s mission?
Patrick J. Byrne, MD, MBA: Across the nation—and indeed, the world—we have experienced disruptive changes in healthcare. These changes include not only cost pressures on practices and health systems but also fundamental shifts in how physicians seek education and consume information.
We have several goals:
- To support the academy’s advancement of our corporate practices.
- To embark on a reimagining of our educational offerings, an exciting initiative we began over the past year.
- To drive alignment across our diverse membership.
- To focus significant energy on engagement with industry.
PSP: How do you see the field of facial plastic and reconstructive surgery evolving in the next few years, particularly with advancements in technology?
Byrne: Technology will drive advancements in the field on several fronts. The first is a continuation of technological progress, with new devices and treatments continuing to emerge, including but not limited to aesthetic treatments. Advancements in tissue regeneration, biomaterials, and nerve regeneration are just a few areas where we will continue to see remarkable progress.
Perhaps even more disruptive will be the impact of artificial intelligence, which holds promise not only for driving drug discovery but also for fundamentally altering how care is delivered. We are on the verge of an incredible expansion of virtual “agents”—virtual partners who will support individuals in optimizing their care and navigating the healthcare system.
PSP: Can you discuss the importance of integrating both clinical excellence and business acumen in advancing surgical practices and patient care?
Byrne: All our members need to be proficient in both. Our primary obligation, in the end, is to our patients; that is always our North Star. We put patients first, focusing on achieving excellent clinical outcomes while keeping them safe. The reality is that our ability to do so is also tied to financial performance. This is true for those in solo private practice as much as it is for our members in large healthcare organizations.
As an academy, my colleagues and I on the board of directors have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that we remain a thriving and solvent organization. Current expense pressures are affecting wide swaths across multiple industries, and we are no exception. In my view, we have an ethical obligation to ensure financial success for the AAFPRS because our fundamental mission is to serve the interests of our patients in terms of safety and excellent outcomes. These are inextricably linked.
PSP: How has your experience directing the Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Fellowship Program shaped your approach to training the next generation of surgeons?
Byrne: I’ve trained over 15 fellows at Johns Hopkins and several now at the Cleveland Clinic. It’s been a wonderfully gratifying experience. We encourage trainees to develop an absolute passion for excellence. What I mean is that our patients deserve this — they deserve providers who are obsessed with achieving perfection. This is an impossible goal and yet the only one that is appropriate. Training surgeons has been a personal gift to me, as I am challenged daily to bring my very best forward.
PSP: What are the biggest challenges currently facing the field of facial plastic surgery, and how can the AAFPRS help address them?
Byrne: The macroeconomic changes affecting healthcare more broadly are equally relevant to our members. We are dealing with workforce shortages, higher wages, and inflationary pressure on supply chains. These societal pressures affect the cost of delivering healthcare and also impact the demand for our services.
As an academy, we need to focus on what we can control. First and foremost is our dedication to providing members with world-class training and educational opportunities. We are laser-focused on ensuring that our members provide unsurpassed clinical excellence for every patient who seeks care from a facial plastic surgeon. Our product must be the best.
PSP: Could you share some insights into your work with microsurgical facial reconstruction and its impact on patient outcomes?
Byrne: This has been a passion project of mine for over two decades. Patients who suffer from facial paralysis often represent the ultimate challenge in combining advanced reconstructive techniques with sophisticated aesthetic treatments. These are reconstructive surgery challenges that are also aesthetic in nature. Our patients suffer from profound facial deformities and want not only to blend into society, unnoticed, but also to look their best. They want to look youthful and attractive. This has profound effects on their sense of well-being, confidence, and overall health.
The techniques have become highly sophisticated and technically challenging, to the point where patients should ideally see surgeons who are at the forefront. One area I have focused on the most is how to perform muscle and nerve transplants in a way that creates natural facial emotion. This is as much an art as it is a science.
PSP: What advancements in the treatment of facial paralysis and reanimation surgery are you most excited about?
Byrne: We have developed techniques in our field to restore the ability to smile with the entire face more effectively than ever before. This involves muscle and nerve transplants, where the delicate dissection of multiple “vectors” of movement is achieved in an effort to evoke expressions of happiness and joy.
